THE ROCKER
New Member
In response to Anne DeBold's post of Answers and Questions about the race track, some things were said that were not the way they were planned.
First of all Jeff Mills, Curley, and myself had several meetings at Jeff Mills' house. It was planned for Jeff to do the PR and getting sponsors. Then Curley said that it would be easier for them to do it because there was a person that worked with Anne at the radio station that could get sponsers to help with the track. That person did not produce one sponsor that I know of.
There was also a person that they knew that was in the food business that could stock the concession stand with the food that was needed. They might have been able to do this if there was enough equipment to keep the food in stock, I don't know. My wife had to stock the stand every week and bring all the product that was left after each race to our house to keep safe and refrigerated, if needed. We also had to take all the dirty pans and everything home to wash every week because there was no water in the concessions stand. The controversy that was in the concession stand was mostly about working conditions and about having to work out of ice chest instead of refrigerators. I worked out a deal with Pepsi Cola about getting coolers two times. The first time, I was told not to make the deal because they thought they could get refrigerators and stock their own product.
My wife and her helpers quit, so Anne was helping get the concession stand stocked. She seen how hard it was and asked me to see if I could get Pepsi back. I did, and was told by Curley not to because he was going to get his own coolers. Didn't happen.
Now back to the meetings we had at Jeff's house. It was planned that Jeff was the Announcer and PR, Curley was to build the track, and I was to Manage the track.
Now things really change here. This is even hard to right about. Jeff died. Now all of a sudden it is left up to me to do all that Jeff was going to do. We had 3 or 4 weeks to get ready for the start of the season and I was to do all of this added work. I did my best to try, but did not get any help from the owners!
Jeff had asked Tracy Ruch to fill in while he was in the hospital. After he died, Tracy wanted to try the PR job and did the best she could but she seen it was a tuff job and she could not devote the time that Jeff could. I could not devote the time either, because I am a truck driver and a lot of the time I am not even in the state of Missouri. Tracy did a good job but seen it was very time consuming and with a baby and chores she could not spend the time that Jeff could because he was dedicated to racing 24/7.
I was in the process of offering John Pusateri(the old announcer) the PR job, which I think he could of done. Curley told me about Chad Reeves being a good announcer. I spent two of my lunch hours talking to Chad to see if he would be the new announcer and he said he would take the job. I did not get the chance to talk to John about changing duties before I resigned. Curley hired Chad after I left.
I did hire the track officials and after a few adjustments got a good crew working the flag positions on the track. I did not get John Bell for the job because I did not know him, but seen when he was hired he was a good choice.
It was hard filling the new positions with new people and I am getting blamed for a lot of things that I don't think I should. Before we got the men that are in place now, we had three different flag men in turn 3, three in turn 2, and two different main flag men. So evidently, my first choices were bad again.
Now, as in the post of Answers #3, I don't think any body dropped the ball. We were making adjustments where needed and it was coming closer to working. As for the Fights in the Pits, I did not tolerate fighting. I ejected a driver and his crew for two weeks because I seen a punch thrown. The last night I worked at the track, I was trying to find out the whole story and planned on ejecting other drivers for two weeks.
I was approached by a man who was mad about me ejecting drivers. He threatened me with Curley standing beside of me and Curley never backed me up. I told the man I was following rules and he threatened me again. With getting no backing from Curley for following the rules that is when I resigned!
Answer #4 Sponsor Program --Jeff had a program set up for him and hopefully the person that works with Anne at the radio station. My workers who tried to help, did not get the results that were expected, so they Get the Blame! I got the only two sponsors that I know we got before the season started. They gave me a lot of money and was not given what I told them they would get because the track was still under construction. So as far as I can see, we could not fill Jeff's shoes, but I did get sponsors. Remember a lot of weeks, I am not even in the state of Missouri so my time is limited on what I can do. I do have to make a living!
Being the Manager, I can't make adjustments when I don't know the numbers. It is pretty simple to know that if your income is less than payout you make the adjustments you need to. All the payouts were decided at the meetings at Jeff's house with the plan on making adjustments when needed, if they were needed.
And Now a Little About Us and the Track.....
I had the same goal as Curley and Anne---to keep racing at Fredericktown. It hurts reading the post from Anne and getting the finger pointed at me about everything. If I was conspiring to hurt the track, I would not have invested so much time and effort. I have been connected with the track since 1995. I actually ran the operation for almost two years, but NOT by myself. If anyone remembers my post to Jeff Mills after he died, you know that I did not take the credit for the success of the track.
When Anne wrote that (Now we can see who the Real Manager was. It was Jeff!) she was almost right. Where she was wrong was there was nothing done at the track without everybody's input. The best decisions were made at that point, and it needs to be done now.
Since I look like the Bad Guy, I hope that the four weeks that I have been gone-- everything has worked like it was supposed to. In closing, I wish everybody good luck. Let's Go Racing at the Rock!
I did the best I could with what I had to work with.
Terry Flanagan
Here is the post that I wrote for Jeff to let everybody know how the track used to be ran. (It is on page 8--May 6, 2007 Millseyyyyyyyyyyyy/Loss of a Wonderful Friend)
THE ROCKER
Jeff was like a brother to me. Every decision I had to make about the race track was not done without getting Jeff's opinion. Most of the time he would suggest to do it another way and I would take his advice and it would work like it should. He had so much knowledge and experience about every aspect of racing I would have been a fool not to take his advice. I have said it to many people and to Jeff--He is the most important person in my decision making of the way Fredericktown Raceway was operated. I will miss the long talks we used to have about all classes of cars we run at the Rock. In my racing career this is the hardest thing that I have had to talk about and I wish Jeff was here to help me through this.
Terry Flanagan
Manager of THE ROCK
__________________
First of all Jeff Mills, Curley, and myself had several meetings at Jeff Mills' house. It was planned for Jeff to do the PR and getting sponsors. Then Curley said that it would be easier for them to do it because there was a person that worked with Anne at the radio station that could get sponsers to help with the track. That person did not produce one sponsor that I know of.
There was also a person that they knew that was in the food business that could stock the concession stand with the food that was needed. They might have been able to do this if there was enough equipment to keep the food in stock, I don't know. My wife had to stock the stand every week and bring all the product that was left after each race to our house to keep safe and refrigerated, if needed. We also had to take all the dirty pans and everything home to wash every week because there was no water in the concessions stand. The controversy that was in the concession stand was mostly about working conditions and about having to work out of ice chest instead of refrigerators. I worked out a deal with Pepsi Cola about getting coolers two times. The first time, I was told not to make the deal because they thought they could get refrigerators and stock their own product.
My wife and her helpers quit, so Anne was helping get the concession stand stocked. She seen how hard it was and asked me to see if I could get Pepsi back. I did, and was told by Curley not to because he was going to get his own coolers. Didn't happen.
Now back to the meetings we had at Jeff's house. It was planned that Jeff was the Announcer and PR, Curley was to build the track, and I was to Manage the track.
Now things really change here. This is even hard to right about. Jeff died. Now all of a sudden it is left up to me to do all that Jeff was going to do. We had 3 or 4 weeks to get ready for the start of the season and I was to do all of this added work. I did my best to try, but did not get any help from the owners!
Jeff had asked Tracy Ruch to fill in while he was in the hospital. After he died, Tracy wanted to try the PR job and did the best she could but she seen it was a tuff job and she could not devote the time that Jeff could. I could not devote the time either, because I am a truck driver and a lot of the time I am not even in the state of Missouri. Tracy did a good job but seen it was very time consuming and with a baby and chores she could not spend the time that Jeff could because he was dedicated to racing 24/7.
I was in the process of offering John Pusateri(the old announcer) the PR job, which I think he could of done. Curley told me about Chad Reeves being a good announcer. I spent two of my lunch hours talking to Chad to see if he would be the new announcer and he said he would take the job. I did not get the chance to talk to John about changing duties before I resigned. Curley hired Chad after I left.
I did hire the track officials and after a few adjustments got a good crew working the flag positions on the track. I did not get John Bell for the job because I did not know him, but seen when he was hired he was a good choice.
It was hard filling the new positions with new people and I am getting blamed for a lot of things that I don't think I should. Before we got the men that are in place now, we had three different flag men in turn 3, three in turn 2, and two different main flag men. So evidently, my first choices were bad again.
Now, as in the post of Answers #3, I don't think any body dropped the ball. We were making adjustments where needed and it was coming closer to working. As for the Fights in the Pits, I did not tolerate fighting. I ejected a driver and his crew for two weeks because I seen a punch thrown. The last night I worked at the track, I was trying to find out the whole story and planned on ejecting other drivers for two weeks.
I was approached by a man who was mad about me ejecting drivers. He threatened me with Curley standing beside of me and Curley never backed me up. I told the man I was following rules and he threatened me again. With getting no backing from Curley for following the rules that is when I resigned!
Answer #4 Sponsor Program --Jeff had a program set up for him and hopefully the person that works with Anne at the radio station. My workers who tried to help, did not get the results that were expected, so they Get the Blame! I got the only two sponsors that I know we got before the season started. They gave me a lot of money and was not given what I told them they would get because the track was still under construction. So as far as I can see, we could not fill Jeff's shoes, but I did get sponsors. Remember a lot of weeks, I am not even in the state of Missouri so my time is limited on what I can do. I do have to make a living!
Being the Manager, I can't make adjustments when I don't know the numbers. It is pretty simple to know that if your income is less than payout you make the adjustments you need to. All the payouts were decided at the meetings at Jeff's house with the plan on making adjustments when needed, if they were needed.
And Now a Little About Us and the Track.....
I had the same goal as Curley and Anne---to keep racing at Fredericktown. It hurts reading the post from Anne and getting the finger pointed at me about everything. If I was conspiring to hurt the track, I would not have invested so much time and effort. I have been connected with the track since 1995. I actually ran the operation for almost two years, but NOT by myself. If anyone remembers my post to Jeff Mills after he died, you know that I did not take the credit for the success of the track.
When Anne wrote that (Now we can see who the Real Manager was. It was Jeff!) she was almost right. Where she was wrong was there was nothing done at the track without everybody's input. The best decisions were made at that point, and it needs to be done now.
Since I look like the Bad Guy, I hope that the four weeks that I have been gone-- everything has worked like it was supposed to. In closing, I wish everybody good luck. Let's Go Racing at the Rock!
I did the best I could with what I had to work with.
Terry Flanagan
Here is the post that I wrote for Jeff to let everybody know how the track used to be ran. (It is on page 8--May 6, 2007 Millseyyyyyyyyyyyy/Loss of a Wonderful Friend)
THE ROCKER
Jeff was like a brother to me. Every decision I had to make about the race track was not done without getting Jeff's opinion. Most of the time he would suggest to do it another way and I would take his advice and it would work like it should. He had so much knowledge and experience about every aspect of racing I would have been a fool not to take his advice. I have said it to many people and to Jeff--He is the most important person in my decision making of the way Fredericktown Raceway was operated. I will miss the long talks we used to have about all classes of cars we run at the Rock. In my racing career this is the hardest thing that I have had to talk about and I wish Jeff was here to help me through this.
Terry Flanagan
Manager of THE ROCK
__________________
